Going Pro with Coach Suzie Fritz

00:00:02
Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Tifny Oshinsky, and this is Serving Pancakes with League one Volleyball, with the inaugural Love season just around the corner. Over the next few weeks, we'll be following some of the biggest women's college volleyball games featuring schools that our players attended. In today's episode, I'll be going over the thrilling five set victory for number two Nebraska over number ten per Due with Big ten Networks Emily Emon, and then Love Omaha's head coach Susie Fritz will join me to talk about the inaugural season, her career, and so much more so. First, let's talk to Nebraska Purdue. Emily Even, welcome back to Serving Pancakes. So happy you're here.

00:00:38
Speaker 2: So happy to be here. Always down to chats men'saavolleyball. It's been a crazy season so.

00:00:43
Speaker 1: Far, absolutely insane, and this match was equally insane, with Nebraska, who was number two, coming back from being down two to one to beat Purdue twenty five, twenty two, twenty two to twenty five, twenty three, twenty five, twenty five, twenty two, and then the insane it's set seventeen fifteen. So let's talk big picture. First, Emily, what stood at to you the most in this match?

00:01:07
Speaker 2: To be honest, the biggest thing to me was watching this match. It didn't feel like Nebraska won. It felt like Purdue lost it. You know, they were up two to one in one of the toughest places to play in the entire country at the Devani Center. They're up ten to eight and set five and then kind of let it slip away. The biggest thing to me was produce service errors. You know, they had four in that fifth set alone, four in a period of the first seven points, So they were just handing Nebraska, you know, part of that fifth set. And when you look at the numbers, Purdue pretty much outplayed them. I mean in terms of blocks fifteen to five and a half, they out blocked Nebraska. They out hit them three eleven to two forty two. And that's a really good Nebraska defense. And if you're going to be able to hit above three hundred against them, to me, you have to be able to capitalize on that. Eva Hudson and kloeesha Coin produce outsides are just absolutely insane. One of the best duos in the country combined for nearly fifty kills the difference. Though, again those service errors for Purdue, they had nineteen of them in the entire match. If you have the opportunity to take down the number two team in the country and you're kind of out playing them in almost every capacity. In the fifth set, you're up ten to eight, you have to find a way to close it. So it's kind of, you know, for the Boilers, letting it slip away. But I mean, what a fun volleyball match. The defense was outstanding. It's so fun when you see players like Hudson and Shaquoigne go off, and then you're playing in one of the best atmospheres in college volleyball. I mean, it doesn't get much better than that in a seventeen to fifteen fifth set.

00:02:34
Speaker 1: There's so many things I want to touch on that you just mentioned. I want to break things down first. Let's start with the most recent thing that you just said, playing at the Davanny Center. You've been there. You know you can feel the electricity coming from your screen while watching games in Nebraska, but can you just explain what it is like to actually be there, especially when you have such a wild match like this was.

00:02:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, the Davanni Center is second to none. To me, it's the most intimidating place to play in all of college volleyball. I mean, the bells and whistles there are incredible. It's an incredibly nice facility. It seats about eighty five hundred or nine thousand with standing room only, and they sell out every single night. They're closing in on three hundred and fifty consecutive sellouts, which is a Division One Athletics women's record, not just for volleyball but all of women's athletics. It is crazy. Those fans know volleyball so so well. They're so knowledgeable about the game. You know, they know in a chair, and then if the other team's doing well, like it's real quiet in there, but it is. It's crazy. I mean, when you have nine thousand fans screaming at you in that kind of environment, it is so so tough to play in and that really becomes a difference maker when you enter a fifth set, when things are close, when you can get that crowd momentum behind you. That's one of the reasons why it's one of the best home court advantages in all of sports.

00:03:50
Speaker 1: I mean, they've won thirty five straight there, so you know, watching this game and hearing this crowd, I can completely understand how much of a home field Advanta is now one of the heroes for Nebraska. Merrit Pison. She had a season high twenty two kills in this game. We've seen how good she is. We know how good she is, but can you explain why teams struggle to stop her?

00:04:15
Speaker 2: Mayor Beson's a gamer. I mean, she is one of the most difficult attackers to stop in the country. She's very rangey, meaning she can vary up her attack well. She hits deep corners, she can barrel things down the line. Whatever set is given to her, she does a really nice job of adjusting to that. She also has really great court vision, so it doesn't matter the defense in the block you put in front of her. She's able to see the block really well. If there's a small seam, she'll hit right through it. Does a nice job at targeting fingertips. She's always just got a heavy arm. I mean, if you give her a received to rip through, she's put in the putt in a hole in the floor. She is just absolutely incredible. One thing that I think Nebraska hasn't necessarily utilized enough but they started to during that match against Purdue is getting her going in the back court. They've been rotating her out with a DS in the back row, which last year she was so effective back there. She was one of the best backcourt attackers in the country. And now this year they've been using a DS because they have a plethora of just incredible littles on that team. But Beson really got it going in the back row, especially when it mattered most when those sets are really tight, especially in that fifth set, they left her back there, and I mean she was just going off. But I mean, she's a gamer, she's rangy, she's athletic, she can just fly jump out of the gym. She's so much fun to watch.

00:05:26
Speaker 1: And talk about Andy Jackson because she's also been absolutely unstoppable.

00:05:30
Speaker 3: Oh my god.

00:05:31
Speaker 2: I mean she's like nearly unstoppable. There's one point in that match I think I want to say it was a third set she was hitting like nine hundred. I mean, Andy Jackson right now is in a league of her own in terms of middles. Her slide attack is the best that I've seen in the country. I mean, the way that she's able to fly up there and even if it's not the perfect set, manages to find something to do with. But she added three inches to her vertical in the offseason. She now touches ten ten, which is crazy for an attacker that's only six ' three. She can jump out of the gym. She's really rangy. She's very explosive, strong arm, and her connection with rossettter Berg and Riley is incredible. You know, they had time to practice it over the summer playing in the USA gym obviously a lot of you know, time just in the Nebraska gym as well. But Andy Jackson's incredible. Her offense has taken just massive strides in the last year, and her blocking too has gotten a lot better.

00:06:21
Speaker 1: You mentioned Eva Hudson and kloe Cha Coin on Perdue. They both had double doubles in that match. They also looked unstoppable. I mean, if I didn't know the score, I would have thought that Perdue had it just based on how they were hitting. Even though they lost this match. How dangerous is this Perdue team with them?

00:06:39
Speaker 2: They're so dangerous. I mean, the key to stopping Perdue is to slow down Eva Hudson and kloes Ha Coin, which teams can't do. You know, it's so incredible because if you look at Chloe Hacoin, she's an attacker that's about five to nine, and I would say that's like a generous five nine. She's more like a five eight, but she jumps through the gym. It doesn't matter that you know that the ball is going to either of them in the outside or the backcourt, you still can't find a way to stop them. Which is what makes this Purdude teams so fun is you know where the ball is going. They set a vast majority of their sets to the outside, to one of the two, and they just find ways to put it down in a fifth set, in the beginning of the first set, it doesn't matter. They're gonna get a ton of swings. They're just ballersm You know, I always think about who would I not ever want to play against, and those are two players that I just would never want to face on the other side because you know they're getting the ball, they're still going to put it down. They also just have that look in the rye that you know they're going to take their game to the next level. And as an opponent, I would be completely terrified.

00:07:38
Speaker 1: I mean, Shaquinn being five, eight, five nine or whatever is. I think it says she's five to ten on on the roster, but I also know as someone who's five to three, who was once put in a book as five to six. I know people like to be a little generous, but I mean she's going up against Mary Beeson who's six three I believe, and Andy Jackson six floor. Like. I mean, the fact that she can get those hits down and have that many in a match against girls who are that tall is insane.

00:08:04
Speaker 2: It's crazy, And to be honest, for both of those players too, it's not only just their front court play, but it's like having two liberos in the back court as well. They are so good defensively, they fly around the back court. I mean, Chaquhanna is making saves in that fit set that you could have got prdue the win. Obviously didn't, but I mean she is incredible in the back court as well. Both of them are, for sure.

00:08:24
Speaker 1: And then their middle hitter, Raven Colvin. She didn't have the best night hitting, but she did lead with eleven blocks. So again same question when it comes to Raven, how dangerous is she on this team?

00:08:35
Speaker 2: Raven Colvin's incredible I mean, she's a very undersized middle She's just about six feet tall, maybe five to eleven, but she plays so much bigger than she is because she's a little bit shorter. She really has to make sure to be very disciplined. That's what she's really good at. Blocking wise, she makes really explosive movements. She doesn't move until she knows where the ball is going, and that's led to just stuff after stuff. I mean right now, she's second in the NCAA and blocks percont at about one point seven, which is just absolutely unheard of. Again, second in the country, that's first in the Big Ten. She is incredible, and also when they can get her going offensively, it really changes the game for Purdue. She's good enough to where the ball doesn't have to be perfect. Purdue oftentimes talks about just getting it in a window for her to hit, because she's so athletic and dynamic that if you can just get the ball to her, she'll figure out something to do.

00:09:24
Speaker 1: With for sure. Now, Perdue was dominant in the second and third set, beating Nebraska in those two, But what happened in the final two, especially in that fifth set where they were up fifteen fourteen one point a way to seal the game. What went wrong with the Boilers.

00:09:41
Speaker 2: To be honest, Nebraska started making plays, and it took them up until that point to really do it. They were kept in that set because of produe service errors. You know, up until about the seven point mark, Purdue had handed Nebraska for service airs, so they were already kind of in the set, and then all of a sudden at ten to eight, they found a way to turn it on. Their front row really started making plays, and it was a really balanced effort. It's not like one person really ended up just going off at the end to get it done.

00:10:08
Speaker 3: You know.

00:10:09
Speaker 2: Mayor Beeson had those last two kills for Nebraska, But up until that point they just found ways with other people. Whether that was Andy Jackson getting it killed, you know twice late in that set, Harper Marie showed up big. The biggest thing for Nebraska is when it's tight, they turn it on, and sometimes they struggle with that starting off matches a little bit slow. But again, also if you're playing in a fifth set at the Devani Center and it's that close and you've got the crowds momentum behind you, that definitely helps your team turn it on a little bit.

00:10:37
Speaker 1: All right, Well, time for the serving pancakes. Pancake counter and in this match, I only counted one pancake. It was in the fourth set by Landychboy. Nebraska was up nine to five when Chilboy came out of nowhere to just get that pancake and dig the ball up. Unfortunately, Nebraska did not get the point on that effort, but it was a valiant effort by her, and I went to comment her on that. But talking about defense in general, I know we talked about Hudson and shit Coin, but what did you see in the defense from both teams? What really stood out to you?

00:11:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean you know Nebraska's defense always stands out. You mentioned a player like Landy CHOBOI just absolutely incredible. I think they did a really nice job in the backcourt, which they always do, just racking up dig after dig. Lexi Rodriguez to me, she's hands down the best libarro in the country. I thought Perdue was doing a good job keeping the ball in Bergen Riley in the back court. Her dig numbers were really high, trying to get Nebraska out of system. But really what stood out the most was the blocking from Perdue. I mean, they did an incredible job really from start to finish, and that's what this Purdue team is known for. They just put up block after block. They ended with fifteen of them against Nebraska is about five and a half, so that really stood out. You know, Raven Colvin again just a phenomenal blocker. She really led that charge for Perdue and was just absolutely lead up front. She wrecked up nine stuff. So you know, it's a backcourt defense for Nebraska the front court defense for Purdue that really stuck out.

00:12:01
Speaker 1: Lastly, Emily, there has been so much parody in women's college volleyball this season, so many upsets in your opinion, Why is that and what does it mean for the rest of the regular season going into the tournament.

00:12:14
Speaker 2: Well, parody means that it's going to be really fun as we head into the rest of the season. But it's been really cool to see because over the last three or four years, we're seeing upsets like we've never seen before and so much more parody top to bottom. You know, a lot of conferences, take take the ACC for example, used to be a very top heavy conference. You had Pitt, you had Louisville, and then Georgia Tech, you know, is always kind of in the mix, but now there's so many conferences and teams where it's anyone's game. You can't take a night off because top to bottom, these conferences are getting so much stronger, and not only are the top teams getting better, but the middle teams are now pushing the top teams, and the teams that are normally at the bottom of conferences are pushing those middle teams taking sets off of the top teams across the board. Right now, you can't take a night off because we've seen upset after upset time and time again, which for us as fans, I mean, it makes it so exciting. It's you know, every night we're seeing massive upsets, which is going to you know, pay dividends for a lot of teams down the line in the tournament too, and probably some pretty big upsets once once postseason play starts.

00:13:15
Speaker 1: Very excited to say that that tournament is going to be a lot of fun to watch. Well, thank you so much, Emily, appreciate you taking the time to speak with me and talk some women's collin volleyball.

00:13:25
Speaker 2: Yeah, I love it. Happy back Anto time. Thanks for having me.

00:13:42
Speaker 1: Great analysis by the extremely knowledgeable Emily Emon. Now let's talk about professional women's volleyball in Nebraska. Love Omaha head coach Susie Fritz is here. Coach Fritz has the resume and experience you want in a head coach. Born and raised in Kansas, coach Fritz began her coaching career in nineteen ninety four at Florida Atlantic. She eventually found her way back home, becoming the assistant coach of Kansas State in nineteen ninety seven, then took over the program in two thousand and one. After twenty five seasons with the Wildcast, she became an assistant coach at Arkansas. During her tenures, she led nationally ranked teams to eighteen NCAA tournament appearances with her players, including sixteen All American selections, twenty six All Region selections, and fifty six All Big twelve selections. And now League One Volleyball is lucky to have her lead. Love Omaha Coach Fritz. Welcome to Serving Pancakes. Thanks so much for me here.

00:14:37
Speaker 3: Thank you so much. I'm so excited to be here. Tiffany, thank you for having me.

00:14:42
Speaker 1: Now, thank you so much, coach. I have to start by asking, after such a storied career in college ball, why did you decide to go to the pros, specifically with League one Volleyball?

00:14:54
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, so many, so many things, you know, the one just the people involved in League One where I think as I as I kind of started to get more into it and meeting. My first initial meeting actually was with Danielle Scott, who you know, five time Olympian, phenomenal human being, and just her excitement for how League one was building, and Tom Hogan and his team. They're just phenomenal people, and I think that's where it started. I knew volleyball. Volleyball is in my heart, it's what I love. Coaching is the family business, right But the college landscape is changing, and I think this was the next logical step for me that made a lot of sense to do what I love, but have it look a little different if I'm being honest.

00:15:48
Speaker 1: So what are you expecting to be the biggest difference between college and pro Yeah?

00:15:52
Speaker 3: I think what I noticed right away and in conversations with the with the women on the team is just this desire for collaborative work, right is you know these guys are professionals. They've played all over the world. They have far more international plane experience than I have. I have a lot of volleyball experience, But I think the collaborative piece of it is, and you take away the academic piece, which is a big part of the student athlete experience, right, So I think the collaborative just where you these guys know what they want, they know what they need, they communicate it openly and honestly, and I love just the direct model and the really clear vision of where they want to go. So I think those are the big pieces right now.

00:16:41
Speaker 1: This is the inaugural season of League one. So what have been some of the challenges you've faced planning for a first time team in a first time league.

00:16:51
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I heard someone say you're building the plane as you fly it, right, there's a little bit of that where because you're I do feel to be honest, really comfortable with just the all the pieces in the parts, you know. I think when I became a head coach, I tell people often that it took me probably five to seven years to get my arms wrapped around all of the entities there are involved in an athletic program, whether it be collegiate internationally, and you start thinking about the marketing and promotions and the ticketing and the events and the strength and conditioning, athletic training, right, and the list goes on and on and on, and really, I think as a head coach you want to have at least some minimal knowledge of these things. So everybody's doing that for the first time in all of these different areas, and the communication and the collaboration that's required to do that is what I noticed right off the bat, right, is that we're all but the intention within the organization is phenomenal and everybody's in it together trying to problem solve quickly as things arise, and that part of it, I think is pretty huge for the organization period to be successful.

00:18:07
Speaker 1: Well, we're only a few weeks out from preseasons starting, So what are you doing to prep for this first.

00:18:12
Speaker 3: Preseason planning practice? You know, I mean, I'm trying to stay focused on the volleyball things. There's a lot of things to be focused upon, but I'm trying to really just stay focused on the volleyball things. And you know what the structure of practice is going to look like, Starting to set a schedule for the women on the team and working with League One in terms of what their requirements of the athletes are going to be. There's and I'm sure you're familiar with it, but there's a tremendous amount of just resources and opportunity that these women have access through League One and some of the programming that they have done just from the pro level all the way down to the club level is phenomenal. So just getting organized, I think more than anything, is the simple answer.

00:19:00
Speaker 1: Do you sort of have like a mentality of what you want to build in this first year?

00:19:04
Speaker 3: Yeah, I do. You know, I want to be really competitive and I want you know, there's a there's a desire in me in some ways right to represent women in sports and desire to you know, I know a lot of the women on my team are so excited to represent something where young players can look to and say, hey, I can do that someday. And I think there's still a little bit of that in me that if you want to be a volleyball coach and you want to coach at the highest level and you want to stay in the United States to do it, that opportunity is there for you, and there's not a lot of women professional coaches and that representation for me really matters. And I'm excited to be able to have a chance to be a great coach and do it in a great league with a tremendous group of women.

00:19:56
Speaker 1: I love that well. Especially Nebraska is one of, if not the hotspot for women's volleyball. I mean, watching the Nebraska Perdue game on Friday, there were so many cutaways of the younger generation holding sign saying stuff like future Nebraska volleyball player. You know, they're just so excited about the sport and they want to be part of it. So now you've coached at Kansas State for a long time in your career, but you also had the opportunity to play in Nebraska. So what are you expecting when you get to come coach in Omaha.

00:20:32
Speaker 3: Yeah. I tell people a lot like I've been external, like just in arms reach, watching it for a really long time, and I think until you're in it, you don't really totally get it. Just the fandom that exists in the state of Nebraska, and it's you know it. I mean Creighton University. Kirsten Berenthal is a phenomenal coach and she's got her team playing exceptionally well and Matt Buttermore at UNO. And this is out side of the Huskers, right, who have traditionally been a powerhouse, and John does a phenomenal job there and so the university filtering system, if you will, and they're all successful all the way down to the club level. The high schools in Omaha play tremendous volleyball. Just fandom is the best word that I can explain it. They're true volleyball fans. They love volleyball there and I just feel blessed to be, you know, part of it and embed ourselves in that community. It's phenomenal.

00:21:32
Speaker 1: Well, speaking of some of the players on your team, you get to coach four time Olympic medalist Jordan Larson and two time Olympic medalist Justine wang Arantez. So let's start with Jordan, who is known as the governor of Nebraska. What are you excited about when it comes to coaching Jordan.

00:21:50
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, it's been a really neat experience to get to know Jordan on a level outside of maybe her as a volleyball player, you know, and just the journey that she has been on from a career perspective. And admire that and use that in some ways to advance, if you will, right, the experience of our team and myself and our program. And she is an amazing human being with this desire to give back to the Nebraska community that helped build her and put her in a position to have this phenomenal volleyball career. And she's committed to service and mentorship and legacy, if you will, And you know, I just feel blessed to be in that with her, you know. And I think that's the cool part, right Jordan, is she's going to let me be in that with her and wants to still be coached and wants to get better as a player, and wants me to coach the heck out of her. So it's a really cool, I think dynamic so far. I have so much admiration for her and where she's been and the fact that she's still doing it, So I can't say enough good things about it, you know, and the opportunity to do that with.

00:23:04
Speaker 1: Her, Yeah, and with her experience, I mean, how do you coach somebody with that much experience?

00:23:11
Speaker 3: Well, Jordan knows exactly what she wants and what she needs for the most part, right, I think a lot of times with an elite level player like that, it's not necessarily about doing more with her, you know. In some ways, it's about helping her refine, if you will. You're not asking her to do more, You're asking her to do really specific things, really really well, you know, and helping her create that list. You know, what is she thinking about, what is she working on? How can we help her do that? And I don't think that list is very long for her anymore, you know, for a lot of the women on the team, right is just what's your list right now? Where do you want us to help you? And that's where I think that collaborative piece really comes into play with these guys. Is at this point they kind of know who they are and what they want.

00:24:00
Speaker 1: M for sure. And then Justine Wangarantez best libero at the Olympics in Tokyo. She's the all time digs leader in Nebraska, another queen of the state, if you will, when it comes to volleyball, do you think that you have a huge edge right there with your libero situation?

00:24:16
Speaker 3: Wait feels like it, right, it feels like it. But they're all good, you know, And just a shout out to you know, Maggie upright and Danielle Michelle Chapman, right Smith, those were the recruiters that went out and got these phenomenal athletes on all the teams Omaha included. And I just think they've done such a phenomenal job of getting the right talent to be able to make this thing go. And yeah, I do. I think I have a little edge, right, she's the best. Who doesn't want the best?

00:25:01
Speaker 1: We're going to be seeing elite volleyball, elite players and not just you know, in Omaha, but all over the league. As you were saying talking about the recruiting and trying to get these women to join the league, there's just so many amazing players. So specifically talking about Omaha, who on your team are you most excited to coach and to introduce to the States?

00:25:23
Speaker 3: Yeah, that would be impossible for me to answer, you know that, Yeah, that would be impossible for me to answer. There are just the diversity within the roster. I'm excited about the international players and their opportunity to experience the sport culture in the US. When you talk to them, that's something that they're just really amazed by and looking forward to being part of that. So I think there's a piece of that for sure, But even more than that, just the community aspect of League One and the ability to have it be more than just volleyball. Those are all things I'm really excited about. I don't know as if I can, if you ask me to pull out one player, right, I just don't think that's possible. I'm excited to get to know all of them and be part of this process for all of them and hopefully help them advance their careers and have a tremendous experience.

00:26:17
Speaker 1: Well, there are ten women who were on the US Olympic team this past summer who are spread out among the sixth League one teams. You know, there are international Olympians in the league, as well as other top players from all over. So with all of these players out there, which teams do you think will be the hardest to compete against? And who are you most excited to face? Yeah?

00:26:40
Speaker 3: All of them? I don't know. That's the cool thing about it, right is I don't know, and all of them? You know, the answer is all of them, And right now, if I'm being frank, I'm not really thinking too much about anybody else, Right is all of our time and effort. I've got this tremendous staff that we put together in Omaha. Remy is from France and he's got a ton of international experience. And we were able to bring in Corey Tetzlaf who was an All American at Creighton and she's part of our staff. And Joby Ramos was currently at Iowa Western Community College. And I've got this beautiful, amazing staff, and I just right now, we're going to build our own plane, you know, and we'll worry about everybody else is when we get there.

00:27:28
Speaker 1: Now, looking back at your career, both as a player and a coach, what things have you learned that you're bringing to love Omaha.

00:27:36
Speaker 3: Yeah, the list would be too long too. I often say I've screwed it up so many times, right is. I think where I'm at from a career perspective right now is that early on, I think I over coached everybody. You know, that anything that was coming into my it was You're trying to fix everything at once. And I think what I've learned is it's just better to do less well. And so maybe both from a coaching perspective and a life perspective, I'm on this mission to do less better and I think just really being intentional about what you want to accomplish that day, what you want to accomplish that practice, what are the most important things, and how do you create an environment that allows everyone to be successful within that? And I think for me that's priority one. I'm philosophically. I know who I am from a coaching perspective. I know what I want to do and what I don't And it's a really wonderful place to be and to feel like you've done a lot of trial and error and you've made a lot of mistakes and you're in a place where you feel like, yeah, no, this is the way we want to do it. And so I think that's where I'm at right now.

00:28:56
Speaker 1: Would you say you learn most of this from coaching, like in your career, because you said earlier that your family is you know, you're from a family of coaches. Do you learn any of this from them too, or did you learn anything specifically from them that you've brought to your coaching.

00:29:09
Speaker 3: Yeah, a lot, you know our family. That's it's an interesting dynamic, right because you're always talking a lot of this stuff. I feel like I learned from my family was the relationship culture building pieces. Right. They're football coaches and basketball coaches and tracking field coaches, right. So from a sport perspective, I think that's just stuff I learned along the way. I had some tremendous mentors and people that were really really influential in my life and shaping how I wanted to teach and how I wanted to learn about volleyball. Just from a philosophical perspective, what are the most important things? How do you go about teaching and training them? How do you develop your own principles within that and yet not lose who you are as a coach? You know, I have to be me and but you're always just grabbing pieces and parts from different places along the way. And I think I'm to a really nice place where I want to keep learning, but I want it to be within a certain framework now.

00:30:07
Speaker 1: So going back to the beginning of your coaching career, you kind of had this unique way of becoming a coach, because I've read that you actually started coaching while you were still playing. So can you tell me.

00:30:19
Speaker 3: You went six and twenty one that year? It was just really terrible?

00:30:23
Speaker 1: Yeah, So, well, how did you go from becoming a player to a coach? Can talk about that transition, what it was like, especially since you were playing, you were like a player manager in baseball in that regard, But talk about that and also just how you got into the sport in general, because I also read that you considered yourself a late bloomer to the sport.

00:30:42
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, you know, it was different than the club systems, particularly in rural America, were not established in the nineteen eighties. You know, I'm dating myself a little bit, but so I think if I really think back that far right, it just was different. And so I went to junior college route initially as a player, and then I ended up at Florida Atlantic University and I played for this Venezuelan guy. His name was Leo usgata Key and if you say who's got the key really fast, that's how you say his name. And he was just the coolest. I played for Ray Bichard, who's the volleyball coach at the University of Kansas, and then I worked for him for a couple of years, and I worked for Jim McLaughlin for a few years at Kansas State as an assistant and with my dear friend Jason Watson, who is an amazing, just brilliant coach at the University of Arkansas, and along the way was introduced to Marv Dumfy and Carl McGowan and a lot of these guys just really shaped how I feel about volleyball. And I think back to that time of yeah, sure, I want to be a volleyball coach, and unfortunately they had fired Leo uscati Key and had hired a the assistant women's basketball coach. This actually happened back then to coach the volleyball team, and the problem was she just didn't know anything about volleyball. So I came on basically to run practice, but with my teammates.

00:32:07
Speaker 2: They were the.

00:32:08
Speaker 3: Players that I had played with the year before, and it was complex, and we weren't very good, and I was terrible, and you know, it was a really difficult start, if you will. But I left there thinking, Okay, why would anybody do this? This is terrible? And I got really lucky that I landed a couple of jobs after that, and it's turned into be this beautiful, imperfect journey, career, journey that I wouldn't give up for the world.

00:32:36
Speaker 1: Did you know that when you were a player coach that coaching was the next step or did it sort of take you a few practices a little bit of time before you realized, like, this is my path.

00:32:45
Speaker 3: I think it took me a lot. Yeah, I think it took me a long time, to be honest. I think you know that you have a disposition for teaching and mentorship and development. I think you know you have this disposition. I learned pretty quick that if I wasn't if it wasn't volleyball, I'd be teaching something. I think I see myself as a teacher and so, but it took a while to gain both the knowledge and the experience to feel comfortable in the role. It's not something you know learn overnight for sure.

00:33:16
Speaker 1: Now, going back to two thousand and three, I read that you were named the Big Twelve Coach of the Year after you led Kansas State to their first ever conference title. You were on your way to coaching the Wildcats in the NCAA Tournament, and you were one month away from giving birth. So, being that it was two thousand and three, what was it like being so far along in your pregnancy, having a young child, and coaching at such a high level. What type of support did you get?

00:33:47
Speaker 3: Yeah, I remember that it's chaos, you know. I mean, I think it's just this, it's just this chaos that you're living in. And I remember just constantly thinking finding joy in the chaos, right, find joy in the chaos. So, you know, what was it like being pregnant? You know, it was just being pregnant. I don't know as if it was anything other than that, right I At that time, that was my second pregnancy, so I knew a little bit more what to expect. The first one was probably a little tougher because you don't know what's coming, but the second one you kind of know what to expect. I do remember seeing my physician and going, hey, can I get on this plane and fly to you know, wherever? Do you have to come with me? What's going to happen here? And so organizing that. But my doctors were great, My team was great. I don't if I'm being honest, I was just coaching and happen to be pregnant, you know. And now when after you have the babies, right, and then they're alive, then you have to try to keep them alive. And that's a whole different set of things. Right. So one of my funniest stories is having probably my four year old with us in the back of the van and the team was always so great with them, and having them in the back of a van and having him get sick and like really getting sick, virtually got sick in the van, and having my team just be a bunch of champs, and thinking, oh my gosh, you know, God love them. But you know, those teams along the way when my kids are little, they helped me raise my kids. They ran around in the gym, and the athletic trainers helped me, and the assistant coaches helped me, and the ops people helped me, and my parents helped me, and it was it was a team effort to try to get those boys right to maybe to school, if you will, right. So I had a lot of hands and a lot of help.

00:35:38
Speaker 1: I love that. I mean it's now twenty years later, and I feel like there's, you know, still a stigma attached to working moms or athletes being moms, but you know, speaking specifically about love. Sarah will Hyde Parsons of Love. Madison is pregnant with her first child.

00:35:56
Speaker 3: Off the top of my head.

00:35:57
Speaker 1: You know, there are a lot of moms in the league, like Carley Low and Julienne Fossett, and in general, you're seeing a lot of professional women athletes in like the WNBA or n WSL who are becoming moms and working moms. So over the course of your coaching career, how have you seen working moms supported and athletics. How has it evolved?

00:36:20
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, it's interesting. I have you know, won they're athletes. They're athletes first, you know, I mean, they're well, maybe they're moms first, right, but they're but they're athletes, and I guess my thought is they absolutely can do it right now. They have some physical demands that pregnancy complicates that. You have to be pretty committed to coming back after a pregnancy because you've got to get back in shape, you've got to meet the physical demands of your sport. And but the ones that do it, it's just it's absolutely possible. It's no different than putting on a suit and going to work, and it is just what they choose to do. So I have you know, that's how I feel about it. There's no reason why these women can't go have a family and do this too. You know, we have to well we don't have to, but many of them choose to carry them, right, and so that complicates it. It's going to take you out. Like Sarah, right, she's going to take a year off and then she's going to get back in shape and she's going to come back. And being a parent makes you a better person, you know. So she's going to come back and learn some things along the way and try to figure out how to balance being a working mom, and she'll do it just like you know, thousands of women to come before.

00:37:42
Speaker 1: Speaking of kids, I saw that your son is was a caddie at Whistling Streets.

00:37:49
Speaker 3: Yes, yeah, yeah last summer.

00:37:51
Speaker 1: Are you guys big golfers? Uh?

00:37:53
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I don't want to say I'm a good golfer, but I'd like to play golf. Right, He's a big golfer. My husband's a big golfer, and so it was an amazing experience for him last summer. He loved it. He absolutely loved it.

00:38:06
Speaker 1: That's amazing. You know, Jordan Larson picked up golf during the pandemic. I feel like, maybe, yeah, you guys should start some sort of you know, team bonding experience getting out on the links.

00:38:17
Speaker 3: Yeah, it takes a minute, right to get good at golf. I don't know if the beginning golfers would think the same, but you know, but I go hack it around pretty I go hack it around when I can.

00:38:29
Speaker 1: Oh, I love it. I love golf. I'm not very good at it either, but it's a lot of fun to play.

00:38:33
Speaker 3: I think I may need to get to retirement because it takes some time to get good at it.

00:38:37
Speaker 1: True. Well, lastly, going back to volleyball, what do you hope to showcase in this inaugural season and what do you want fans and the public to see, learn and know?

00:38:51
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I hope that we can showcase just a phenomenal level of play, you know, simply. I hope that we can put all of our pieces together and in a short period of time and really show showcase this beautiful combination of international athletes and American athletes and varied levels of experiences, and put all of our pieces together and just simply play phenomenal volleyball.

00:39:18
Speaker 2: Right.

00:39:18
Speaker 3: If you ask me what I really want to accomplish, that's it, right, And I want the fans and the people to see how amazing. These women are just there. Oh my gosh. They are so much more than volleyball players, and they're amazing volleyball players, but they're also these incredibly driven, smart, talented humans that I think are tremendous role models just for people, not just little girls, but just for people in terms of how they're driven to be successful, how they honed their craft, how hard they work to be good at it, and how well they failed and recovered and go again. And so I guess that's what I want people to know and see. But mostly I just want to put all the pieces together and be really good at volleyball.

00:40:07
Speaker 1: I love it. Well, Coach Fritz, thank you so much for coming on Serving Pancakes. It was a pleasure speaking with you.

00:40:13
Speaker 3: It's so nice to meet you, Tiffany.

00:40:14
Speaker 1: Thank you. Serving Pancakes is an iheartwomen's sports production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You can find us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts for wherever you get your podcasts. Production by League one Volleyball, I'm your host, Tiffany Oshinsky. Anya Oliverrez is our senior producer. Our executive producers are Carrie Stett, Tamaradiki and Lindsay Hoffman. Our marketing lead is Jawara Parker. Sound editing and mixing by Daniel Gonzalez. Our theme music is Pancakes by Eric W. Mast Junior Special thanks to Emily Emon and coach Susie Fritz. Stay tuned for another episode of Serving Pancakes. Thanks for listening.